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FILBERT GROWING
IN THE PUGET SOUND
COUNTRY
PRESENTING A TREATISE ON
THE FILBERT NUT
By
A. A. QUARNBERG
Price Fifty Cents
Copyright 1917
PUGET MILL CO.
Walker Building
SEATTLE, U.S.A.
Wuo0d Hsnd NI NMOUD “HSVA ‘HONVN GOOMUACIV LY ATUL LYAGTIA AAILONGOUd ATHDIH
FILBERTS
For Pleasure and
Profit
FOREWORD
HE object of this booklet is to call attention
to the pleasure, profit and permanent satis-
faction to be gained by the growing of Fil-
bert Nuts in the Puget Sound district of Western
Washington—especially that territory lying north
of Seattle, where climatic and other conditions are
more favorable to their cultivation than in any
other portion of the United States.
As owners of a large area of land in this
locality, the Puget Mill Company undertook in-
vestigation of the various products derived from
the soil in countries possessing similar climatic
conditions, with the intention of introducing here
the most profitable and best-adapted yields wher-
ever they might be found.
With knowledge that the Puget Sound lo-
cality has a climate virtually identical with much
of Southern Europe, and with the British Isles, we
were led to a special analysis of the fruits, nuts and
other products of commercial success in those por-
tions of the globe.
Among the many
financially profitable
industries of agricul-
Puget Sound
America’s tural life developed
Favored Spot there we found none so
for conspicuously promi-
‘s nent in its appealin
Filbert Culture features as he nee
ing of Filbert nuts. In
fact it is difficult to
find in those countries the small home without the
beautiful Filbert tree and its generous yield.
Filbert nuts enter largely into the diet of those
people who dwell in that portion of the Old World
(Southern Europe) which under modern explora-
tion furnishes so much evidence of ancient history
and undoubtedly the cultivation and use of the
Filbert and other nuts has been handed down to
the present generation from prehistoric times when
human kind were compelled to subsist on what
Nature provided, not having arrived at a condition
when man’s ingenuity had developed food condi-
tions such as we enjoy in this day. Indeed, the
industry of Filbert growing has assumed tremen-
dous proportions there, and the exportation of
Filberts to all parts of the world amounts to mil-
lions of dollars annually.
With the outbreak of the European war, how-
ever, the exportation of Filberts to the United
States and to the Latin-American countries was
virtually shut off, and the stern law of necessity
gave rise to a new enterprise in the utilization of
Filberts, producing from the nut Filbert oil for
cooking and lighting purposes, and also for the
making of soap.
While many attempts have been made to in-
troduce the growing of Filberts in different parts
of the United States, it is not until the last quar-
ter-century that success has been attained on such a
scale as to warrant plantations for commercial pur-
poses. Because other parts of the United States
have lacked the favorable climatic and other con-
ditions that are so conspicuously present about
Puget Sound, attempts elsewhere have served but
to emphasize Puget Sound’s adaptability to this
interesting form of culture.
But the financial advantages of Filbert grow-
ing in Western Washington have been so thor-
oughly tested and demonstrated over a quarter
century period as to prove in our opinion that
the man or woman with foresight, by acquiring a
Filbert orchard now, can look forward to ample
returns and income not only for this generation,
but for the second and third generations to come.
And this takes into account only the partial util-
ization of the land, for with Filberts may be pro-
duced other crops and other yields that go to make
up the intensive cultivation of land foreshadowing
the “new life of the land.”
Upon the demonstration farm of the Puget
Mill Company at Alderwood Manor, on the Seat-
THRIFTY AND PROFITABLE FILBERT ORCHARD WEST OF THE
CASCADE MOUNTAINS
tle-Everett interurban electric railway, we have a
large plantation of Filbert trees of various varie-
ties. As a member of the horticultural staff at
that point, we consider ourselves particularly for-
tunate in having Mr. A. A. Quarnberg, who un-
doubtedly is regarded as the leading American
authority on Filbert culture.
Mr. Quarnberg’s province will be to teach and
assist all those who are interested in this fascinat-
ing and profitable form of land cultivation. Mr.
Quarnberg has spent the most useful years of a
long and singularly seasoned life in developing to
commercial success the growing of Filberts in the
State of Washington.
With an orchard made up of Filbert trees
from many parts of the world, Mr. Quarnberg has
standardized Filbert culture into two varieties—
the Du Chilly and the Barcelona, and for the bene-
fit of present and prospective Filbert growers Mr.
Quarnberg has written the following treatise. We
hope it will not only afford all required information
and direction in regard to this interesting subject,
but will point the way to success and independence
for the many who love Nature, love to watch the
miracles the soil will produce, and who long for a
full and complete life that will round itself out in
peace and plenty for future years.
Alderwood Manor is ideally
Alderwood | situated, not only with regard to
Manor its physical advantages for the
Rurali cultivation of Filberts, but be-
Uralizes cause of its location within such
the easy reach of a metropolitan cen-
City ter. Only a matter of minutes
from the center of Seattle, Al-
derwood Manor provides a home
spot of unique attractiveness, with electric lights,
telephones and the comforts of the city, yet with
the beauty and charm of the country. The orna-
mention and utility of the country place, we believe,
cannot be promoted to greater advantage than by
the cultivation of the Filbert tree.
For the man who wants the freedom, the
health, the wholesome surroundings of the country
for himself and his family, for the man who real-
izes that it is not the amount of land he possesses
but the utilization of that land, Alderwood Manor
and Filbert culture, under the expert guidance and
SLINSUNd IVUNLINOIYDY UAHLO GNV ‘DNINUVA AULTNOA HAISNALNI ‘ONIMOUD LUAMTIA NI NOILONULSNI
Saud 10 SLIZANAG AHL AOLNA SLNACISAU AYTHM ‘YONV qooMuadly LY TIVH IVIO0S GNV TIVNOILVONaa
direction of the Alderwood demonstration farm,
afford a combination of wonderful appeal.
PUGET MILL COMPANY,
Walker Building,
Seattle, Washington.
QUARNBERG
A.
A
S FOREMOST AUTHORITIES ON THE
GROWING OF THE FILBERT NUT
ONE OF AMERICA’
FILBERT GROWING
By A. A. QUARNBERG
| ess centuries filbert culture has held a promi-
nent place among the industries of various
European and Oriental countries, not only because
filberts are a desirable food, but also on account of
their value as an article of export.
Because of adverse conditions, efforts to grow
filberts in the eastern sections of the United States
have been discouraging, resulting in the importa-
tion of millions of pounds of filberts annually for
consumption in the United States.
After twenty-three years of local experience
the fact is established beyond a doubt that the
climatic conditions are ideally adapted to filbert
culture in the Pacific Northwest.
Here as fine filberts as any ever produced in
any country have for years been successfully grown
and it seems certain that filbert growing will de-
velop into a profitable industry of large commercial
proportions.
With practically no filberts produced in the
eastern, northeastern and southern states, there is a
ready market in the United States for all the fil-
berts that can be grown in the Pacific Northwest.
The favorable climatic conditions for produc-
tion of filberts in the Pacific Northwest, and espe-
cially in the Puget Sound region, Washington, are
a valuable resource well worth developing.
This article is not intended as a scientific or
technical work on the filbert, but simply to give
some practical information, the result of experi-
ence, concerning European filbert (corylus avel-
lana), its culture, training, etc., as at present prac-
ticed in the Pacific Northwest.
DESCRIPTION
The word filbert as generally used, designates
hazel-nuts of commerce. Andrew S. Fuller in his
“Nut Culturist” says:
“The common name filbert is from ‘fullbeard.’
BARCELONA FILBERTS IN THE HUSK.
All varieties with husks extending beyond the nut
with fringed edges are filberts, Solile those with
husks shar ter aa the nuts are hazels from the old
Anglo-Saxon word haesel, a hood or bonnet. The
| a FILBERT BRANCH IN BLOSSOM
parentage, size, form, or quality of nut is not to be
considered in this qualification, for when the nuts
are ripe and fallen from the husk, there is nothing
left to distinguish the hazel from the filberts.”
The filbert (corylus) is a deciduous tree or
shrub of which the fruit is a nut enclosed in a leafy
lacinated calyx cup or husk. It blooms before the
leaves appear in the spring.
The male flowers are visible early in the au-
tumn and appear in cylindrical catkins which, in the
Pacific Northwest, remain on the trees till the fol-
lowing months of January or February before they
fully develop or scatter their pollen.
The male flowers are quite conspicuous, bu
the female flowers are very small and _ entirels
hidden in the buds until blooming time, and the
they merely push out their thread-like crimson
colored styles at the ex-
tremities of the buds for
fertilization. When fertil-
ized the protruding tops
of the pistils wither and
disappear, while the nut-
bearing parts of the flow-
er remain intact enclosed
in the buds awaiting de-
velopment the following
summer.
The nuts vary in shape
and may be round, oval,
oblong, conical, ete., and
often grow in clusters,
but each nut is enclosed
in a husk varying in
length from shorter than
the nut to lengths extend-
ing beyond. In most va-
rieties, the extended husk
opens at the outer edge,
POLLEN-PRODUCING CATKIN,
MALE FLOWER. ARROW POIN
TO FEMALE FLOWER THAT
IS FERTILIZED
but in some it rather contracts than opens, and
the more contracted forms interfere with the hus’
ing of the nuts.
HOW THE YOUNG SPROUTS
CLUSTER ABOUT THE
BASE OF THE TREE
PROPAGATION
The filbert usually de-
teriorates from the seed,
and other modes of prop-
agation must be employed
for perpetuating and mul-
tiplying varieties. While
varieties may be propa-
gated by budding and
grafting, the most com-
mon method practiced
both in Europe and _ this
country, is by sprouts or
LAYERING THE SHOOTS TO MAKE NEW FILBERT
TREES BY THE SERPENTINE METHOD
suckers which the cultivated varieties have a ten-
dency to throw out from the base of their stems,
and which are taken up and developed into trees.
Usually a considerable num-
ber of rooted sprouts may be
obtained by banking rich soil
around the stools during the
summer to promote root for-
mation, and long sprouts may
be layered during the winter _
and become rooted by the fol- :
lowing fall.
There are several methods of
layering, but the most common
is to bend and fasten down the
sprouts so that the lower por-
tion is imbedded in earth to
throw out roots, while the upper
part is made to grow erect and
form a new tree. The rooted
sprouts and layers are sepa-
rated from the parent tree and ih ms a
LAYERED SPROUT SEV-
ERED FROM PARENT TREE,
SHOWING ROOT DEVELOP-
4 MENT SUMMER AFTER
LAYERING
planted in nursery rows about one foot apart,
where they are allowed to remain and develop into
the size of trees desired for permanent orchard
planting. Small trees may be planted into orchard,
but larger well-rooted trees are more satisfactory.
LAND AND LOCATION OF
ORCHARD
The climate of the Pacific Northwest is favor-
able for the filbert (in fact in no other portion of
the United States has the filbert met with success) ,
and it will grow on a wide range of land and soil
even when moderately poor, so long as it is well
drained and deep enough to supply the necessary
moisture, for the filbert is a surface feeding plant,
but it undoubtedly thrives best on moderately deep,
rich and well drained loam. The air drainage does
not seem to be so essential with the filbert as with
other fruits, as it appears to be less liable to frost
injuries than most other kinds of fruit.
ORDINARY NORTHWEST COLD WEATHER DOES
NOT AFFECT THE FILBERT DURING
BLOOMING TIME (FEBRUARY)
PLANTING OF THE ORCHARD
Filbert trees produce a mass of fiberous roots,
and transplant well. Fall or early winter is the
NEWLY PLANTED
FILBERT TREE
best season for transplanting fil-
berts, but they may also be planted
in the spring. Before planting the
orchard, the land should be thor-
oughly plowed and harrowed and
put into good condition. Different
varieties of filberts differ in growth
and size of trees and are set from
ten to twenty feet apart according
to variety, quality of land, and the
size they are expected to attain.
Generally speaking, a distance of
sixteen feet is considered ample
and not crowded, for the larger
European varieties grown in this
country. The holes for the trees
should be dug sufficiently large to
accommodate the roots and the fill-
ing in of some good top soil, with
the setting of the trees a few inches
deeper than they are in the nursery
row.
As with most other kinds of fruit, cross-pol-
lination of filberts is beneficial and with some va-
GavHOUO LYAaTIT NOLONIHSVM NUALSAM UOT CAUVO TIAM ‘NVATIO V
NURSERY ROWS OF YOUNG FILBERT TREES, SET OUT ADJOINING
FILBERT ORCHARD
rieties, necessary for satisfactory bearing. Some
varieties are more self-sterile than others, but most
of them do better mixed than when grown alone.
Very late blooming varieties will not fertilize
the early blooming varieties and vice versa: In
carrying out this idea, it is best to plant the varieties
with all possible regularity. They would pollinize
just as well if they were indiscriminately intermin-
gled, but if it is desired to keep the varieties sepa-
rate, difficulty would be encountered in the picking.
CARE AND CULTIVATION
While the filbert will stand some neglect, it is
well to bear in mind that it responds readily to
good treatment, and it pays to give the trees
good care and keep the land in good cultivation
and fertility. If the soil is deficient in lime, as
generally is the case west of the Cascade Moun-
tains, some should be applied; and unless the land
is very rich, bearing trees, at least, should bi-
annually receive a dressing of barnyard manure or
poultry or other fertilizer.
Clean cultivation should be practiced in filbert
orchards, excepting as to cover crops, and for that
purpose vetches probably give the best results in
the Northwest.
Generally speaking filbert trees have in the
past had but little systematic pruning in the Pa-
cific Northwest. The trees have done well without
much pruning and this has fostered a quite general
opinion that filberts needed but little actual prun-
ing. But with older trees and the increasing num-
ber and size of commercial orchards, a standard
system is recommended.
Up to this time filbert trees have usually been,
and probably will continue to be, trained as low
standard trees headed from one to three feet high.
Some have been allowed to grow in their natural
form of several stems, but the one stem or trunk
form is generally preferred, being more convenient
for care and cultivation.
Felix Gillet, the late pioneer promoter of
filbert culture and one of the most renowned hor-
ticulturists and authorities on nuts in this country,
recommended that “filberts be trained as low
standard trees and branched at 18 to 24 inches
from the ground and not grown bush-like.”
SHAPING THE TREE
After a filbert tree
has been planted, the
first pruning required
is to head it to desir-
able height from 20
to 80 inches, two feet
being a good height.
During the follow-
ing summer a num-
ber of shoots will
grow out near the
top of the headed
stem, and from these,
three or four are se-
lected and trained to
form the top of the
future tree and the
others removed. For
the first few years,
the top requires more
or less attention in
way of thinning and
shortening of strong
shoots to give the
tree the proper form
CATKINS (BLOSSOMS) APPEARING :
ON THE YOUNG FILBERT TREE and_ balance.
STURDY FILBERT TREES IN WESTERN WASHINGTON ORCHARD
In the family garden or lawn the filbert might
be made to branch at three or four feet. Nothing,
indeed, is prettier than a filbert tree headed at
that height. Particularly is the purple leaf filbert
highly ornamental with its original and_ brilliant
fohage.
Unless wanted for propagation purposes, suck-
ers from the stem and roots should be hoed off in
growth during the summer, or in winter be severed
from the tree by pruning shears or other sharp
cutting tools.
While the filbert likes a reasonable amount of
air and sun, it does not require continued sun-
light as much as most other fruits and succeeds
well in partial shade. For this reason filberts are
well adapted for fillers in orchards of walnuts and
other strong growing fruit trees. In Kent, Eng-
land, apples and pears frequently form a dense
cover over the filbert trees and yet they produce,
but naturally not so freely as those in more open
quarters.
In the famous filbert orchards of Kent, the
trees are trained in the form of a broad, open and
basin-like top on a short trunk, the top having six
or more branches which are systematically pruned
in winter by thinning the spurs, removing old wood
and shortening strong growths, leaving the trees
regularly balanced on all sides.
TIME OF BEARING AND YIELDS
Filberts are generally early bearers and good
well-rooted trees usually begin to bear the third
year from planting, increasing thereafter with the
age and size of the trees.
Usually a few pounds of nuts may be ex-
pected from five-year-old trees, and when_ the
orchard is six years old, it begins to pay. With
proper care it will go on paying from 50 to 100
years or more. Filbert trees are known to grow
very old. For matured trees the average yield is
somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds of nuts
per acre. Some orchards, of course, produce more
in single years, due likely to care and favorable
conditions during the pollinizing period.
Frequently good four-year-old trees produce
four pounds of dried nuts and five-year-old five
pounds; seven-year-old sometimes 16 pounds, and
FILBERT TREE COMING INTO BEARING. THIS
TREE AT FOUR YEARS PRODUCED FOUR POUNDS
individual eight-year-old trees as much as 33
pounds, but, as before stated, the growing of the
filbert is comparatively new here, and with the ex-
perience of the past as a guide to the care, man-
agement, pollinization, ete., one may confidently
look forward to even better average results.
During the last few years the Northwest
grown filberts have retailed at prices varying from
25c to 30¢c per pound according to variety, size, etc.
Considering the limited area adapted to filbert
growing in the United States, and the increasing
demand, the problem is one of adequate pro-
duction.
HARVESTING
In the Pacific Northwest filberts usually are
ripe and ready to gather the first part of the
month of September. They should not be picked
until ripe, a condition determined by the brownish
color of the nut, the straw-colored husk and the
readiness with which the nuts separate from the
husk.
The general practice in the gathering of
filberts is to pick them up from the ground in-
stead of from the trees. When ripe and given
time, the nuts will fall to the ground of their own
accord in most instances, but they usually are
hurried off the trees to some extent by shaking
the branches gently before each picking.
Usually three pickings will gather the crop.
Nuts with short husk like the Barcelona gen-
erally roll out of the husk and drop to the ground
clean, but varieties having long husk, such as Du
Chilly, require more or less husking to get the
nuts separated. Machines for husking filberts will
undoubtedly be perfected and come into general
use.
Some varieties such as the Avelines have con-
stricted husk so tight around the nut that they
husk with difficulty and are hard to handle in
larger quantities.
Filberts. are easily dried. When gathered
they usually are spread on trays and dried in the
sun or other ventilated place in a few days. In
wet weather, filberts may be dried artificially in
ordinary fruit dryers with heat from 75 to 90
degrees Fahrenheit. Higher heat than 90 degrees
is lable to break down the oil and damage the
flavor of the nuts.
Filberts are not liable to mould, and they
require no washing or bleaching.
When dried sufficiently, the test of which is
brittle meat, the nuts are cleaned and polished in
a revolving cylinder or other mechanism answer-
ing the purpose, and after grading they are sacked
and stored in a cool place ready for the market.
Filberts are also gathered with the husk and
sold in the fresh state at remunerative prices.
For this purpose varieties with long husks are best
suited, as they keep the nuts from rolling out so
readily as in the short husk.
INSECT PESTS AND DISEASES
On the Pacific Coast filberts are remarkably
free from insect pests and disease. An aphis or
plant louse sometimes appears on the foliage, but
outside of dropping some honey dew in the leaves
and branches, this insect does not seem to do much
harm to the trees, and but little attention so far
has been paid to it.
The hazel bud mite has attacked certain sus-
ceptible varieties, such as Prolific, Fertile de
Coutard, Cosford, Princess Royal and others, and
done considerable damage. Fortunately some of
our most popular and valuable varieties, such as
Barcelona and Du Chilly and others, probably by
reason of difference in the construction of the buds,
seem to be almost totally immune from the bud mite.
The blight or fungus disease on the eastern
American hazel (corylus Americana), which has
attacked and killed the European filbert wherever
set out in the eastern and southern states, has never
been found on the Pacific Coast native hazel
(corylus rostrata), nor on any of the European
varieties cultivated in the Pacific Northwest.
VARIETIES
An important point in planting filberts is the
selection and assembling of varieties. As none of
the native American hazels have developed any
varieties worthy of naming, propagating, or grow-
ing in a commercial way, we must look to the
foreign species for selections and cultivation.
Of all the varieties now tested out, the Barce-
lona and Du Chilly are the best and most desirable
market varieties of which trees in larger numbers
may be obtained for planting at the present time.
SOME OF THE
MOST
COMMON
VARIETIES
BarRcELona: A
magnificent variety
from Spain; nut very
large, round and of
first quality; shell
moderately thick;
strong grower and
very prolific. Intro-
duced by Felix Gillet
about 47 years ago.
One of the best and
most popular varie-
ties for planting.
Du CuHiLty: A
fine, large, elongated
oval variety with
moderately thin shell;
THE BARCELONA FILBERT IN THE HUSK é
AND READY FOR MARKET (FULL size) DUtS Uniform] y
THE DU CHILLY FILBERT IN THE HUSK AND AS IT LOOKS READY
FOR MARKET (FULL SIZE)
large, full-fleshed and sweet. The largest nut
grown in America, as far as known, over an inch
in length and three-fourths of an inch in width;
husk longer than the nut; strong, symmetrical
grower. Introduced by Felix Gillet about the
same time as Barcelona. One of the very best
varieties.
ALGIERS: Nut much like Barcelona, but some-
what smaller, good bearer.
KentisH Cos: Large fruited cob-nut, a good
deal like Du Chilly; much grown in England.
NorrmvcgHam: Nut medium, oval shaped,
good flavored, shell thin, kernel full and fine flav-
ored. A very pretty nut.
MontrEBELLO: Nut medium, roundish, full
kernel, good flavored, very prolific.
Nos LuncuHe: A_ beautiful variety; nut
large, shell thick, kernel sweet and good flavored;
husk long and slightly constricted preventing the
nut from rolling out.
Prarson’s Prouiric (Grandis): Nut large,
short, good quality, thick shell, short husk, con-
sidered the true Barcelona nut of commerce.
MervitiE bE Botwitter: Nut large, round
at the base tapering to a point, fine flavor.
Rep and WuHuirE AvELINE: Nuts medium,
ovate; long constricted husk; kernel with either
wine-colored or white skin, hence the name—Red
and White Aveline; flavor sweet and good; very
prolific. Trees are not strong growers.
PurpLe-LEAvep AvELINE: A very pretty,
ornamental variety, the leaf being of a dark pur-
plish hue, looks beautiful. The nut is like other
Avelines.
Many other varieties of more or less value
might be mentioned, but with the difficulty of ob-
taining trees for planting it would be of but little
practical use.
USES OF FILBERTS
The chief uses of filberts are as food, mainly
for desserts and confectionery. They may also be
converted into a valuable oil, which doubtless when
more are grown will become an article of commerce.
The filbert is not known and appreciated as it
deserves to be. The Northwest grown filberts cer-
tainly are excellent nuts, mild and fine in flavor,
and the more familiar the people become with them,
the better they will like them and the larger will
be their consumption, not to mention the fact that
the use of nuts generally is increasing and in many
eases taking the place of meat in dietary. Consid-
sring the limited area adapted to filbert growing,
there is no danger of over-production.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
My attention was first drawn to filberts by an
urticle on filbert culture in America, written by
Prof. H. E. Van Deman about 24 years ago.
Prof. Van Deman organized and was the first head
of the division of pomology in the department of
agriculture, Washington, D. C., and he served as a
judge of exhibitions of nuts and fruit in prac-
tically every state in the Union and at all the na-
tional expositions since 1876 to the time of his
death, in 1915.
In this article Mr. Van Deman described the
almost universal failures to grow filberts in va-
rious eastern and southern states and ended by
saying, that before giving up all hopes of grow-
ing filberts in the United States, they should be
tried in the territory about Puget Sound, Wash-
ington, where the climate is similar to that of Kent,
England, famous for its fine filbert orchards.
Being of an experimental mind, I sent to
Felix Gillet for a few trial filbert trees in Feb-
ruary, 1894, and planted them in Western Wash-
ington. Among these were two Du Chilly trees,
which proved to be the first trees of that variety
brought to the Northwest. In later years I have
added other varieties, including the valuable Bar-
celona, and the development and fruiting of these
experimental trees were closely watched.
While my plantings were limited, the indica-
tions plainly showed the climate to be highly favor-
able to the development of the trees and at the
same time the yield and quality of the nuts of some
varieties proved decidedly encouraging.
In 1908, I had tested out about ten varieties,
more or less, with differing results; many for vari-
ous reasons proved unsatisfactory and disappoint-
ing, while Barcelona and Du Chilly indicated great
possibilities for filbert culture in the Pacific North-
west.
Numerous small plantings of filberts had also
been made in various parts of the Northwest with
similar results. It became evident that upon the
selection and assembling of the right varieties,
depended the success or failure of growing filberts
in the Northwest. With the limited filbert : growing
in the East, but little information on the “subject
of varieties could be obtained outside the experi-
ence and recommendations of the late Felix Gillet
of Nevada City, California, from whose importa-
tions and distributions the most of the desirable
varieties of filberts now grown in the Pacific North-
west may be traced.
For the purpose of determining the relative
commercial value of the various varieties grown
in other filbert producing countries and their adap-
tability to the conditions existing in the Pacific
Northwest, I then began to assemble my now
large collection of filber' ts, which in 1916 numbered
about four dozen different varieties from most of
the filbert growing countries of the world.
About 25 varieties have now been quite well
tested out, and while I have some very promising
other varieties, I think Barcelona and Du Chilly
so far are unsurpassed for commercial planting.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion I will say the filbert culture is
fascinating; it combines pleasure and profit. I ul-
berts are not perishable and do not require an im-
mediate market, and with practically none pro-
duced in the East, and with an ever-growing de-
mand there is a ready market for all the filberts
that may be produced in the Northwest for years
to come.
To me no other horticultural industry looks
more promising than filbert culture in the Pacific
Northwest, and particularly in the Puget Sound
region, especially north of Seattle, where the
weather conditions are so favorable, the bearing
of certain varieties is good and regular, and the
size and quality of the nuts are not surpassed in
any country.